An officer of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Kazeem Yusuf, on Tuesday told an FCT High Court that N4.6 billion was allegedly diverted to finance the 2015 gubernatorial election in Sokoto State.
Yusuf said this while testifying as the second prosecution witness (PW2) in the trial of former Minister of State for Finance, Amb. Bashir Yuguda.
Others charged in the case are former National Security Adviser (NSA); Col. Sambo Dasuki (retired); former Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa; his son Sagir, a company and Dalhatu Investment Limited, owned by Bafarawa.
EFCC charged them with 25 counts of misappropriation, criminal breach of trust and receiving stolen property.
Led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, the witness told the court that based on a petition received from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) former EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu constituted a team to investigate a case of arms fund diversion.
The witness told the court, that in the course of the investigation, we discovered,
”Dalhatu Investment Limited was one of the 78 companies alleged to have received money from ONSA without any documents to show that they bided for contracts.”
He said there were no documents showing a contractual agreement between the companies and ONSA.
Yusuf stated that an analysis of the statement of account of Dalhatu Investment Limited by EFCC from UBA revealed that the company got N4.6 billion.
He added that the amount was paid in instalments between 2014 and 2015 and that N783 million, being part of the money came from the SAS account.
He further claimed that Sagir represented the company.
“He told the EFCC team in his statement that the money was meant for prayers for the country because of the insecurity that was prevalent at that time,” the witness said.
According to the witness, Sagir later gave a breakdown of how the N4.6billion was spent including a list of beneficiaries.
The witness listed the beneficiaries to include Amb. Abdallah Wali who received N580 million from the company, which he (Wali) later told EFCC that the money was meant for his gubernatorial election in Sokoto in 2015.
He also told the EFCC team that Muazu Madawaki received N322 million, and was invited and he told investigators that the amount was for the payment of Hajj for some Sokoto State indigenes.
Among the beneficiaries listed, according to the witness, were the Sokoto State chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) then, Ibrahim Maigoma (N111million); Yahaya Ahmed Dada (N327,549,000); Sani Kabir (N159million); INEC (N293,500,000), among others.
PW2 added that the money received by Abdallah Wali was sent through a company, Development Strategies International Limited, owned by Islam Wali and Mohammed Wali, both cousins to Abdallah Wali.
The witness told the court that parts of the money meant for supplies of security equipment, including hand-held devices, were used to procure a Lexus car.
He added that a Hilux van and 16 Peugeot 206 cars were distributed to PDP local government chairmen in Sokoto State.
However, he stated that 14 of the Peugeot 206 vehicles were recovered in the course of the investigation.
The witness said one Amanze Obi received N15.3 million for political publicity for Attahiru Bafawara’s 2015 presidential campaign.
He further told the court that about £123,000 was transferred to a bank in the United Kingdom to offset a mortgage for Bafarawa, N1billion went to Bureaux de Change (BDCs) to convert to dollars.
The witness added that the N4.6 billion came to Dalhatu Investment Limited from both the ONSA and SAS accounts, adding that the amount was sent to the UBA account of the company.
”We wrote a letter to the then NSA, Major-General Mohammed Monguno. He confirmed that the monies were just diverted without executing any contracts.”
PW 2 further told the court that the N4.6 billion paid to Dalhatu Investment Limited was not used for the purpose it was meant for.
“I discovered, for instance, that N322 million transferred to (Muazu) Madawaki was used for Hajj purposes.
” It is for Umrah and Hajj proper. Some of it are for allowances for pilgrims, hotel accommodation and flight tickets.
”There is nothing in Exhibit A to suggest that money was meant to sponsor people to Hajj,” Yusuf said.
Yusuf added that the defendants were invited by EFCC for interviews and statements, informing that they all showed up at the commission and volunteered their statements.
He told the court that Bafarawa came to EFCC, where he was interviewed and subsequently wrote his statement voluntarily.
“We invited Sagir Attahiru for an interview and took his statements.
“We investigated his statement of account and transactions.
”We interviewed him and he volunteered his statements made in the presence of all the members of the (investigating) team.
When the prosecuting counsel sought to tender Sagir Attahiru’s statements through the witness, his counsel, Professor J.O Olatoke, SAN, objected to their admissibility on the ground that they were not voluntarily obtained.
Olatoke told the court that the statements were made based on inducement, intimidation, receipt and invitation to settlement.
He, therefore, prayed the court to grant them trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the statements.
Based on this, Justice Yusuf Halilu ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the statements made by Sagir Attahiru.
He subsequently adjourned the trial until Feb. 14. (NAN)
